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At least 49 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday, in a horrific and methodical afternoon slaughter, part of which was broadcast live on the internet after the publication of a white supremacist manifesto online.

The massacre, which Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, condemned as a terrorist attack and called “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence,” interrupted a day of prayer for a small immigrant community in the nation’s third-largest city and shook a country with little history of mass shooting.

Please don't let this devolve into a political thread... please don't let this devolve into a political thread... please don... crap.

Anyway my heart goes out to those that shot, I hope that justice can be found for these killers, their names, their manifesto, their videos, do not need to be seen or spoken of. They are monsters and do not deserve recognition for their evil.

Please don't let this devolve into a political thread... please don't let this devolve into a political thread... please don... crap.

ALT, tell it to the sick bigot in the White House who, in response to a hate group chanting Nazi slogans, claimed "there are fine people on both sides".

You can pretend all you want that he had no part in encouraging this horrible crime - and the church shootings and school shootings that came before it in the past two years - but everyone knows otherwise.

I find it interesting that there are claims the shooter states he used guns because the media would give him more publicity and so that gun control groups in the US would try to ban guns and cause civil unrest.

The shooter or shooters and any willing helpers should either get the death penalty or be placed under the prison in a room that periodically fills with sewage.

Interestingly enough, there are reports that a civilian at the second mosque started shooting back and chased the shooter off. It would explain why the numbers killed are so different.

In Isam white is a color associated with virtue, pilgrimages and unity. It can also mean that someone has passed away. White roses are a special symbol of purity. I am adding this humble rose garden in tribute to those who lost their lives or have suffered from this tragedy. My earnest condolences.

I find it interesting that there are claims the shooter states he used guns because the media would give him more publicity and so that gun control groups in the US would try to ban guns and cause civil unrest.

The shooter or shooters and any willing helpers should either get the death penalty or be placed under the prison in a room that periodically fills with sewage.

Interestingly enough, there are reports that a civilian at the second mosque started shooting back and chased the shooter off. It would explain why the numbers killed are so different.

Look, I want as much as you do for the perpetrator to get their just deserts, but can we at least wait until we know what the motive was before making claims? Thank you.

My bad. I have been busy with classwork, so I didn't really have time to keep up with the news.

I skimmed through the manifesto. It's long, but basically he shot up the mosque because he thinks immigrants are invading Western countries and replacing/destroying the culture, and that they should go back to their own countries. Talked a lot about birth rates and stuff. Basically, he is a huge racist and considered himself a defender of Western culture. Sick stuff. Called himself an Eco-Fascist (something about combining fascism and environmentalism I think). Interestingly, he says he has a big respect for foreign cultures and that they were very welcoming when he traveled abroad, but that they are fine only in their own countries. If they are in any other country, he clearly advocates for murder. Claimed he was "preserving diversity." I don't understand the ideology there, but regardless, its absolutely disgusting.

I didn't read too closely, but what LDSman is saying about causing civil unrest by using rifles seems right from what I recall.

I thought I’d be able to get sleep, but nah, that wasn’t happening. I know many people in this country did manage to get some sleep, to sleep on the chests of those in their whanau and have some respite from the horrors of the day. And I am so glad they did, but I just wasn’t able to. So much to think about. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve been crying. NZ was not a paradise and I’ve always made it clear that I am no patriot. But this is something that I don’t even know how to encapsulate, don’t have any frame of context to compare it to. We really don’t. Sure, we have overseas stories and such, but... it doesn’t help. How do you put into words what happened? The defining act of terrorism in this country was the French-coordinated sinking of an environmental vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, nearly 35 years ago. One life lost, and that was enough to bring us together. We haven’t had a mass shooting in 29 years, and that itself was an event which swiftly changed the cultural landscape. It was an event which my generation can barely claim as a memory, if they were even alive then. It’s an event which changed us, but so fully that there’s nothing else for us to compare it to since. That’s just one reason why it’s so hard to understand, as a country, what has happened. How do you even try to process the change this will bring to the nation?

And yet, I’m not even Muslim nor someone directly affected by this terrorist attack - the Islamic community in this country have suffered a blow that I won’t ever be able to really comprehend. It’s a nightmare for the Islamic people of this country that wider New Zealand can only begin to comprehend. I just know that what happened a violation of our shared spirit - to live in our tiny little country and find what we were looking for, regardless of the God or creed we turned to for help in that regard. Muslims have always been welcome in this country and that will never change. They were just part of our wider family. To be violated in such a way is beyond the realm of forgiveness in any scenario, but in the middle of prayer? That is beyond inhuman. To have such hatred... I cannot express my sadness fully.

A little context. Christchurch is a city that as time went by, became associated with a couple of things. Firstly, it was not known to be a marker of the cultural and ethnic diversity that exists in the cities up north - that’s the South Island in general. It’s an area where if you are white, you are very likely to be surrounded by people that look exactly like you. It’s an area in which whiteness is the standard. Secondly, it was an area in which social life had already been forced to adapt after an earthquake there in 2011. The process of fixing the costs was... complicated. There was a lot of profiteering done, both by the government and the insurance companies who waved their hands and didn’t go through with many of their obligations. A lot of lives were ruined. The area is still rebuilding. A lot of anger has still yet to be dealt with. It was a hotbed for discontentment, and that anger only contributed to the undercurrent or racism that still permeates New Zealand. When immigrants from many Asian and Middle Eastern countries started arriving in higher numbers around that same time, due to an economic plan that I’m not gonna get into, long-festering attitudes that weren’t necessarily expressed became things that were expressed by a few. That resentment became even more dangerous.
That’s not to say that the earthquake or the government or any singular event was responsible for this by any train of thought - intolerance over different ethnicities is something this country is not unfamiliar with by any means. I just want to provide context as to how Christchurch’s situation within NZ has helped contribute to some evolving levels of hatred in the minds of some gutless, abominable people. White supremacist elements were sadly not unheard of - it’s a problem around the country, but in an isolated area in an isolated country, things get magnified. A lot of people to be preyed upon. An infinitely higher number of perfectly lovely people that just want to watch Netflix after the 6pm news, but a small number of lonely, disaffected, broken people with racial hatred in their hearts that could be utilised. And in this case, it’s been utilised. We don’t know enough to truly comment on the internet’s usage as a vehicle of radicalisation in this case, but I just want to say that in an area like Christchurch, it was a vehicle that had many to pick up.

But... Christchurch has never let these problems define it. It was an area of acceptance, no matter what psyducking happened to it. It was an area that still allowed all of its people to be part of its wider family. There was a Muslim community there for a reason - because people knew, and continue to know, how to let other people into their lives without their skin colour nor their religion detracting from that. The main shooter was immediately greeted by one of the attendees at Deans Avenue Mosque, extending gratitude to someone who he thought was interested in his religion. His fate is not what I want to focus on. The people who returned that goodness in heart are those I want to focus on. Immediately after yesterday’s tragedy, stories came out about citizens immediately running to protect their Muslim brethren even when gunshots were still being heard. Some even delivered first aid. Tried to save lives. It’s been hard to not go back to crying when thinking of it. Our first thought has been how to help - how can we protect those still in danger, how can we get them to care, how can we help their families, how can we support each other, how can we support this country, how can we get rid of the videos of the shootings from public spheres, how can we make sure his manifesto does not get spread, how can we prevent immediate radicalisation from this nightmare. ‘How can we?’ has been the question. Not ‘How could you?’ How can we help. That’s been our identity in this. The people in Christchurch may have been failed by four indescribably heartless beings, but the people of Christchurch and New Zealand as a whole have been adamant in not failing those who need love now.

The response has been swift and total. Blood donations, money and immediate cultural unity, to list some things. Our prime minister Jacinda Ardern has managed to speak to our thoughts exactly.

“We are a proud nation of more than 200 ethnicities, 160 languages, and amongst that diversity we share common values. And the one that we place currency on right now is our compassion and the support for the community of those directly affected by this tragedy and secondly, the strongest possible condemnation of the ideology of the people that did this.
You may have chosen us, but we utterly reject and condemn you.”

That’s only part of her speech, but she did us proud. We do reject these people. They are not working in our interests. Our interests are in each other. Loving them. That won’t change. I know that this event will change New Zealand forever. I know it won’t be for the better in many cases, and I’m politically savvy enough to predict what may happen in the future. But our little island country will not fall to hatred. We will rally around our Muslim whanau and give them the whenua that we all deserve. We may by isolated from the rest of the world, but we will categorically refuse to be isolated from each other. Aotearoa will come back from this. We will grieve together, mourn together and then rise together. It’s not an option. It’s a reality.

I don’t know if I agree with wiping this murderer’s manifesto from the net. It’s already too late for that. Instead dissect it and show what a sniveling coward and idiot this person is. Vilify him for generations.

This is not a Trump/American politics is and I do not want to see another unnecessary Dem vs Republican debate spring up. This is not the American Politics session, not everything has to be about Trump. Focus on the issue at hand and stay on topic. I don't want to say it again.

Judge - is this you in the video? Is this your manifesto? Guilty. Hang him slowly.

We don’t have the death penalty here and we will not change that. New Zealand has abandoned many of its supposed core values over the last three decades, but our belief in the inhumane nature of capital punishment is not one of them. That is what these terrorists want - bargained for in their planning, in fact. They can hang themselves in prison for all I care for their wellbeing, but we’re supposed to be better than them and we won’t let desires for vengeance give them the satisfaction they crave.

We don’t have the death penalty here and we will not change that. New Zealand has abandoned many of its supposed core values over the last three decades, but our belief in the inhumane nature of capital punishment is not one of them. That is what these terrorists want - bargained for in their planning, in fact. They can hang themselves in prison for all I care for their wellbeing, but we’re supposed to be better than them and we won’t let desires for vengeance give them the satisfaction they crave.

From what I heard, he wants to be heard. He wants a trial where he can declare his belief it was self defense. I’d rather not let him have that chance. At the very least, life, no parole, no visitors, no outside communication where he gets infamy by publishing memoirs or whatever.

This is not a Trump/American politics is and I do not want to see another unnecessary Dem vs Republican debate spring up. This is not the American Politics session, not everything has to be about Trump. Focus on the issue at hand and stay on topic. I don't want to say it again.

This so much. I wanted to dislike Maedar's second post for this reason, but PC doesn't offer that option.

Regardless of whatever comes out of this or for whatever reason it was caused in the first place, it's never a good thing to commit mass murder. I don't see any difference between something like this and someone deciding just to go to a place with a lot of people and just randomly take people out. There are some sick, twisted people out there that think nothing of others but themselves.

I hope everyone affected either physically or mentally by this shooting is doing ok...life can always turn on its head quickly for the worst. It makes me appreciate what I do have.

I am incredibly saddened and heartbroken that such a horrific event has taken place. Especially in a place of worship, a place that is supposed to be safe. As a Christian, my heart goes out to my Muslim brothers and sisters and I stand in solidarity alongside them, as people of faith we must stand together and support one another. As a human, I am completely and utterly devastated and I fail to understand how a human being can possess so much hatred and vexation. My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been impacted by this catastrophe. We must do better.

From what I heard, he wants to be heard. He wants a trial where he can declare his belief it was self defense. I’d rather not let him have that chance. At the very least, life, no parole, no visitors, no outside communication where he gets infamy by publishing memoirs or whatever.

He'd have to go through a trial in order to get the death penalty or life in prison (or any sentence), so the thing to do here would be to not publicize the trial itself in addition to the no parole+no visitors+no outside communication bit.

I wouldn't be surprised if publicity was an aim of the guy, people who commit these sorts of attacks often do so with the intent to, at least in part, generate publicity for their "cause" and spread their "message" to the world outside of their usual circles.

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